KikxNow , Digital Creator

  Musarrat Ullah Jan – Kikxnow Digital Creator Serious questions have emerged regarding the appointment of the Public Relations Officer (PRO) at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Culture and Tourism Authority (KPCTA). A citizen filed an application under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Act (RTI) in April 2025, requesting documents related to the PRO’s appointment — but to date, no response has been received. The applicant has also filed a complaint with the KP Information Commission under complaint number 12536. The information requested included: the current PRO’s name, appointment date, copies of educational certificates, the advertisement under which the position was advertised, the total number of applications received, interview dates, details of the selection committee, and certified copies of all related documents. However, since April, KPCTA has neither provided any documents nor issued an official response. Under the KP RTI Act, public bodies are required to provide...

  Musarrat Ullah Jan – Kikxnow Digital Creator An official information request under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Act, 2013, submitted in April 2025, has still gone unanswered after more than six months — leading the applicant to file an official complaint (No. 12473) with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Commission. The application, made to the Public Information Officer in the Office of the Director General, Cultural and Tourism Authority (CTA), asked for specific information regarding all sporting events held by the Sports Directorate in the fiscal years 2023–24 and 2024–25. The RTI request sought a detailed list of events, location information, organizing agencies, media coverage details (names of journalists and news organizations), reasons for non-coverage where provided, and total financial analyses of each event, including public spending, media facilitation, and logistics. In spite of the explicit provisions of the RTI Act — mandating that a public...

  Musarrat Ulalh Jan – Kikxnow Digital Creator The Bannu Sports Complex, meant to be a hub of athletic excellence, has become an embarrassing symbol of official neglect. The latest footage, which has since gone viral, captures the absurdity: a pack of stray dogs leisurely roaming and playing on the pristine football field during what were slated to be national-level matches. It's a scene that is both comical and deeply tragic, perfectly illustrating the collapse of sports governance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The root of this spectacle is not the animals, but the absent human officials. The Regional Sports Office (RSO) Bannu has been completely deserted for over a month. The Directorate of Sports recently restructured its management, replacing the local District Sports Officers (DSOs) with the powerful Regional Sports Officers (RSOs). This structure concentrates all authority into a single post. When that key post remains vacant, the entire athletic ecosystem in the region simp...

  Musarrat Ulalh Jan – Kikxnow Digital Creator The Game of Silence: Inside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Collapsed Sports Directorate In the cold, cavernous corridors of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sports Directorate, silence isn't a lack of noise—it is the sound of absolute rot. Here, files gather dust like tombstones, multi-million rupee projects crumble into disuse, and officials navigate their day with the chilling calm of people who have perfected the art of strategic, profitable incompetence. For years, this Directorate was supposed to be the engine of youth development, a forge for future champions. Instead, it has become a graveyard of public trust, where every scandal is met not with accountability, but with a deliberate, deafening silence. It began with futsal. A group of individuals, masquerading as Pakistani players using fake credentials, allegedly leveraged Directorate connections to travel to the US via Colombia. The goal wasn't to compete, but to smuggle people. Whe...

  Musarrat Ullah Jan – Kikxnow Digital Creator Peshawar – The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Integrated Tourism Development (KITE) Project, funded by the World Bank to promote sustainable tourism in the province, is facing serious scrutiny over a lack of transparency and accountability. Investigative journalist Musarrat Ullah Jan has revealed that repeated Right to Information (RTI) requests sent to the responsible local authorities have gone unanswered. Despite the passage of the legally stipulated period for response, no information has been provided regarding the utilization of funds, project progress, or related data. “The public and stakeholders have the right to know where resources are being allocated and whether the objectives of the project are being achieved,” said Jan, expressing concern over the delays and lack of clarity. “The absence of timely responses raises serious questions about governance and oversight.” The KITE Project, backed by international funding, is intended...

    Musarrat Ullah Jan – Kikxnow Digital creator A critical request for transparency regarding a tragic incident on the Swat River has been met with complete silence by the managing authority, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Integrated Tourism Development Project (KITE). The refusal to respond to the formal information request, sent nearly two months ago, has now become a central point of concern, particularly as the journalist plans to escalate the issue to the World Bank, the project's key financial backer. On August 13, 2025, investigative journalist Mussarat Ullah Jan submitted a formal application under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Act, 2013, to the Project Director of KITE. The request sought validated information concerning the project's emergency preparedness, response, and coordination following the devastating incident where seventeen tourists lost their lives in the Swat River. The detailed request specifically demanded the following: Copies of Emerg...

  Musarrat Ullah Jan – Kikxnow Digital Creator The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Merged Districts' Sports Directorate (MDSD) has gone stone cold silent, sparking serious questions on its transparency, performance, and governance. The Directorate is charged with disregarding successive applications for information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, along with a virtual collapse of sporting activity across most of the erstwhile tribal areas. Sporting life has practically come to an end in all but a handful of Merged Districts. In addition, a number of development schemes are still unfinished even with the grant and release of required funds, indicating major administrative setbacks. Adding to the woes are claims of lost assets and shady appointments. There have been reports that bicycles given by the UNDP are missing. While the MDSD owned up that the bicycles were turned over to a coach, officials will not say anything more, especially regarding why assets intended for a complex we...

  Musarrat Ullah Jan – Kikxnow Digital Creator The exciting sports activity in Bannu Division has come to a complete standstill, with sportsmen and local clubs anxious over the development. The stagnation is due to the inability to fill the post of the outgoing Regional Sports Officer (RSO). The drama started with the Director General Sports for the Sports Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa transferring the RSO Bannu. Surprisingly, the transferred officer still has not joined their new assignment, leaving an administrative vacuum. This questions the DG Sports' capability to implement their own official directions. Local sporting communities are raising alarms, adding that this is not the first administrative hammer. The District Sports Officer (DSO) position was previously abolished in Bannu, and now that the RSO has been sent away and not replaced, no authorized official remains to oversee local sporting matters. All sports activities at the district level have thus been suspe...

  Musarrat Ullah Jan – Kikxnow Digital Creator A serious scandal has erupted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's sports setup, casting doubts on transparency in sports and jeopardizing the future of young sportspeople. Said Zahir Shah, President of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hockey Association, sent a letter to the Director General of Sports alleging that hockey coach Naveed Iqbal from District Sawabi is involved in corruption, illegal activities, and even human smuggling. The letter asserts that Naveed Iqbal purportedly organized spurious trials in foreign countries to entice young players with the promise of international prospects, earning money from them along the way. Spurious advertisements for trials in Malaysia and Thailand were placed, and some players have gone to Belarus and other nations in August 2025. While a few have returned, many are missing, and it is feared they might now be settled illegally in Europe. Said Zahir Shah declared that Naveed Iqbal's moves are against P...

  Misuse of sports grounds continues unchecked despite 2018 ban Musarrat Ullah Jan – Kikxnow Digital Creator Bannu: Clips of chairs set on Bannu Sports Complex's tartan track have become viral on social media, again putting questions marks on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government's 2018 sports policy. The policy had strictly banned the use of sport stadiums and grounds for non-sporting activities, but this was done in daylight in Bannu. Experts have cautioned that the tartan track has been specially laid for athletic activities and putting chairs on it will result in irreversible damage. The question remains: when there is a specific government directive since 2018, how could such a transgression take place at Bannu Sports Complex and under whose administration? What adds more irony to the situation is that all this took place in the Chief Secretary's home district, where there has been no appointment of a Regional Sports Officer (RSO) and no mechanism for effective mon...